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| Titre : | Identity Mania : Fundamentalism and the Politicization of Cultural Differences |
| Auteurs : | Thomas Meyer, Auteur |
| Type de document : | texte imprimé |
| Editeur : | Londres; New York : Zed Books, 2001 |
| ISBN/ISSN/EAN : | 978-1-84277-063-4 |
| Format : | xxii + 125 p. |
| Note générale : | Titre original: Identitäts-Wahn: Die Politisierung des kulturellen Unterschieds (1997) |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Langues originales: | Allemand |
| Index. décimale : | TF/Terr (Terrorisme) |
| Résumé : |
This thoughtful exploration of identity, culture and fundamentalism focuses on a critically important question confronting so many countries in the post-Cold War epoch: are culturally determined political conflicts rooted in the cultures themselves, or spawned only by their political instrumentalization? Professor Meyer presents and critiques, at both the conceptual and empirical level, Samuel Huntington's celebrated argument about the inevitability of violent conflict between different civilizations.
While acknowledging people's need to adopt identities, and that cultures necessarily imply differentiated identities, Professor Meyer argues that most religions share core values, and difference only leads to intolerance and violence when politically ambitious leaderships exploit it. This is what creates the essentially political phenomenon of fundamentalism which occurs, as he shows, in all civilizations, with contemporary European and North American societies having proved themselves particularly prone. What provides the historical occasion is social crisis, of which he gives numerous examples from both industrialized and Third World countries. In the present age of globalization, Meyer suggests that social crisis grows out of an exclusionary dynamic that marginalizes growing numbers of people. Little wonder that the deepening of inequality between North and South has undermined popular confidence in secular leaders' vision of development and triggered a divisive fundamentalism that declares war on modernism and, ironically, on traditionalism too. This argument, if valid, contains real grounds for optimism. In seeking political strategies to defeat fundamentalism and the identity mania that accompanies it, the focus must be on developing economic and social structures that do not exclude or make people insecure, but that give all citizens a common interest in the operations of a socially responsible market economy, which delivers to all. |
| Note de contenu : |
- Editor’s Note
- Foreword : Fundamentalism: Failed Modernity and the West (Hartmut Elsenhans) - Spotlight - 1. The Birth of an Ideology: An Indignant Look at a New Experience / The Politics of Cultural Identity / Identity: Necessity and Mania / Fundamentalism: The Modern Identity Mania. - 2. Attempts at Clarification. Civilization, Civilizational Styles and Culture - 3. Unexpected Strains of Fundamentalism in Europe: The Right-Wing Mania for Identity: Ethnopluralism / The Left-Wing Identity Mania: Community as Society / The Post-Modern Identity Mania: Psychosects / The Identity Mania Engendered by Exclusion: Young Turks in Germany. - 4. Unwanted Interactions: Global Scenarios for Culture and Politics: The Clash of Civilizations / Insulation through Globalization / Opening-up through Identity / The Clash within Civilizations. - 5. The Language of Empirical Investigation: Facts and Research Results: Basic Social Values in Cultures / Post-materialism in Cultures / Socio-Cultural Milieus in Cultures / Understanding between Cultures. - 6. Prospects for the Global Community: Theories on Fundamentalism. - 7. Transculturality: A Contemporary Concept of Culture: The Case of Islam / Cultural Linkages / Refuge and False Enticement. - 8. Opportunities in Risk - Appendix I: A Comparison of Fundamental Values on the Basis of Hofstede’s Data - Appendix II: Post-Materialism in 40 Countries on the Basis of Gross National Product - Appendix III: Socio-Cultural Milieus in Europe - Select Bibliography |
Exemplaires (1)
| Code-barres | Cote | Support | Localisation | Section | Disponibilité |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TF/Terr 003 | TF/Terr 003 | Livre | Compactus | Livres empruntables | Prêt possible Disponible |
